You can knock the Europeans, but there are glimmers of hope everywhere and even in places like Bradford where they've produced the world's first plastic narrowboat.
Fitting that it should happen in the North of England, where canal boats kicked off an industrial revolution whose aftermath we are still living with... or suffering from.
Meanwhile over the water in Holland they're producing the same sort of thing albeit with a twist of speed. The clue is in the recycling symbol on the bow, which belies the use of HDPE (high-density polyethylene): a material that addresses everything a mariner could hope for.
With the obvious exception of levity, which is where the 'miracle material' that we recently discovered comes in for building boats that may yet fly.
For the takeaway from all this is that plastic sheet is as suited to mass production of fast vessels to the extent steel sheet is for the very largest.
Though we were beginning to see that, weren't we?
